Artificial sports surfaces are fabricated from synthetic materials, such as artificial grass with sand or rubber in-fill. Such surfaces were first developed in 1965. Since, these sports surfaces have been in popular use, outdoor sports facilities located worldwide prefer them over natural grass.
Do you remember the frustration and anger when your favourite football or hockey match got cancelled due to muddy or frozen fields? This was a common phenomenon years ago as most of the outdoor sports were played on natural grass surfaces. It is a known fact that natural grass sports surfaces cannot withstand extreme weather conditions. Due to its delicate and fragile nature, natural grass surfaces also require extensive sports surface maintenance and care. As a result, outdoor sports facilities providers have switched to artificial playing surfaces.
Artificial sports surfaces are fabricated from synthetic materials, such as artificial grass with sand or rubber in-fill. Such surfaces were first developed in 1965. Since, these sports surfaces have been in popular use, outdoor sports facilities located worldwide prefer them over natural grass. Not only this, outdoor sports facilities providers opt for artificial sports surfaces because they are more economical in the long run. Even after heavy rains, drainage of the surface water is a matter of only minutes on synthetic outdoor sports surfaces.
Different sports have different requirements and the artificial sports surfaces can be so designed as to exhibit different playing characteristics. Here are some of the unique characteristics of different synthetic sports pitches:
In-filled artificial turf made of polypropylene: It is the most common type of synthetic sports surface. It is built by lubricating polypropylene 'grass' fibres of about 5 cm long with silicon which are tufted into a primary cloth. The back of the cloth is given a latex coating. The entire thing is then in-filled with about 4 cm layer of sand to keep the fibres upright. Such a surface is used for playing football.
In-filled artificial turf made of polyethylene: This in-filled artificial turf is made of a foamy material called polyethylene. In this case, the pitch possesses a base of expanded polyethylene which acts as an effective shock absorber. It is because the lubricated polyethylene grass fibres are shorter and more densely packed than polypropylene fibres. In addition, the turf is also filled with rubber granules up to 8mm from the tip of the fibres.
Sand-dressed artificial turf: This artificial turf is lightly in-filled with sand only up to 5-8 mm from the tip of the fibres.
Unfilled artificial turf: Some outdoor sports facilities providers opt for unfilled artificial turf. Such pitches offer greater protection to the players by reducing the abrasive effect caused by sand infill. These water-based synthetic ports surfaces are used as elite level field hockey pitches.
In-filled artificial sports surfaces can cater to a wide variety of sports. This is made possible by varying the length and the density of the synthetic grass fibres. Fibres of different length and density help in changing the playing characteristics altogether. This is the reason why artificial outdoor sports surfaces are becoming quite popular at sports facilities - be it at club, school or professional level. Even international sports associations like FIFA and UEFA have approved the use of artificial sports pitches.
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